Ellie was determined. Months had passed since she started attending the Tachibana Academy, and she was still about as close to getting a boyfriend as she was back then! Sure, a few boys turned around to look at her (or at least she liked to imagine they did, and Caroline had confirmed it, but who knew if that was the truth), but no one had actually gathered the courage to speak to her, let alone invite her out on a date! It was insane! How come nobody had approached her yet?!? She knew she was the cutest girl on campus (or at least had that confidence - again, who knew if that was anywhere near the truth), so why did boys just straight up avoid her? This called for drastic measures! It was time for Ellie to start using the nukes in her arsenal and visit... the pool!

She knew how to swim, of course. She was blind, not paraplegic. Pretty much all of the foster homes she'd lived in were next to either bodies of water or public pools, so the girl had turned into quite the swimmer over the years. She wasn't exactly Michael Phelps, sure, but she could probably outswim most girls (maybe even most boys) in the school. She knew she could outswim Caroline, that was for sure! Ellie snickered at the thought. She cracked herself up sometimes. In any case, her inherent cuteness, combined with her athletic prowess, were surely going to dash any boy who dared enter the pool area! Dressed in her favorite green two-piece swimsuit (and also her only one - while she did have a red one that the school had forced her to buy, she only tended to wear it when forced near water during... Yeah), the thirteen year old girl swam a few times from one end of the pool to the other, getting herself into shape after a few months of not touching running water (safe for the obligatory daily shower, but that barely counted). Her face was free of any sort of goggles, for obvious reasons, and her hair was loose and spread beautifully whenever she dived underneath. Things couldn't be more perfect!

Ellie was swimming for about twenty minutes when she heard the door to the pool opening. A grin spread across her face. She couldn't quite determine whether the click of the door came from the boys' locker room or the girls', but hey, she could hope that it was a cute boy who'd entered and not, say, the cleaning lady. Pretending she didn't notice him (or her, but hopefully him), Ellie began drying her hair, trying to appear nonchalant, but probably failing. "Ah, um..." she spoke up, trying to sound as cute as possible. "Is... Is anyone around? Could someone give me a towel, please? I'm... I'm blind, I don't know where they are", she said, turning her head to 'look' around. Perfect, the damsel in distress scenario! Guys always came to her aid when she needed it, like when she 'accidentally' lost her cane in the park, or 'accidentally' tripped and dropped all the books she was carrying right in front of a boy who sounded cute. There was no way this wouldn't work! A cute girl dressed in a bathing suit needing help? She was basically holding up a sign saying "DATE ME, PLEASE!"

Jimmy had heard that Tachibana Academy had a pool before he'd arrived there, but he'd never used it, nor had he seen it. But on this particular day, straight after a long run around the school gardens, he figured it was a good way to cool off. His running playlist was still blaring from his earphones. He hummed along as the energetic guitars of David Bowie's Rebel Rebel filled the changing room and he stripped down, wiped himself clean of sweat, and put on his swimming trunks. He stopped the music, put his things in a locker and stepped into one of the showers to soak himself briefly. It was only then that he realised that the condition of the changing room and showers were nearly pristine. For a boys' changing room in a school, that was not exactly a common occurence. Either the Academy's cleaning team were unsung heroes or the pool hadn't had as much use as one would have expected. Jimmy figured the answer was probably both of these things. The hot water coming from the shower head soothed his aching muscles, and he emerged grinning, and feeling like a modern day Adonis. Sometimes Jimmy allowed himself to have a shred of pride and confidence about his appearance, and this was definitely one of those occassions. Filled with confidence and adrenaline from his run, he strode out to the poolside.

A striking and petite blonde girl met his sight immediately, and she was requesting some help in finding a towel."Yeah, hey there. Momentito, por favor." Jimmy responded, absent-mindedly switching languages as he spoke."Forgive me, I do that a lot. Here ya go." He said with an embarrassed laugh, as he retrieved a towel and handed it to her, trying not to stare at the eye-grabbing appearance of the girl who had confessed to being blind. Not only because it was uncouth to ogle a girl who couldn't catch him in the act, but also because she looked a good couple of years younger than him, and he wasn't entirely sure whether it was creepy or not. He figured it was probably creepy regardless of her age, and stopped himself from looking at her, preparing to dive into the water instead. Here he was, a bundle of nerves scolding himself for being a wretched creep when not thirty seconds before he felt brimming with confidence.

Ellie couldn't help but grin to herself when the unknown boy began speaking to her in Spanish. Oooh, a fellow multilingual, huh? Now was her chance to shine!"Tomate todo el tiempo que necesitas", she spoke back with a near-perfect pronunciation, her lips curved into a smile. The perk of learning languages through dictionaries and audiobooks alone meant that she could subconsciously develop the proper diction and, in some cases, even a native accent. Spanish was probably one of her weaker languages, but she knew it well enough to hold a proper conversation, especially if the purpose of said conversation was to impress a potentially cute boy. Wait, was he cute? He sounded so, but there was only one way to be sure! Grr, if only she had an excuse to touch his face! Well, for the moment, she had to make do with his hand. As the boy reached over to give her the towel, the young girl turned her hand to be sure her fingers would be able to touch the back of his hand. His skin was soft and smooth, for whatever that was worth. Things were looking up!"Ooops! Sorry, haha!" she chuckled cutely. "Thanks!"

Ellie felt like she was bringing her A-game to this seduction. She sat down on the edge of the pool, her feet in the water, and began drying her hair with the towel, 'watching' as the mysterious boy dived into the water. She instinctively raised her hands to protect herself, but no water ever came splashing her way - the boy was probably considerate enough to dive a bit further away from her. She waited a bit for the boy to notice her and initiate a conversation, but that didn't seem to be happening. It was fine, men were clueless like that, Ellie was quite used to it. Instead, she simply waited for the boy to dive up to the surface and turned towards the direction of the sound. "So, do you come here often?" she asked. If he did, he probably had a nice body.

Jimmy had hardly noticed Ellie's fingers brush against the back of his hand until after she'd done it, struggling not to turn bright red. He moved to dive into the pool, intentionally distancing himself from the girl so as not to splash her before diving in a fluid motion, submerging himself in the cool, refreshing water.

As Jimmy surfaced with a small gasp for air, he heard the girl ask a question of him."No, but I just finished a long run, and figured this would be a good cooldown. Heard about this pool for a while, so I thought I might as well check it out."

He took a couple of strokes to get himself to the end of the pool before he added."I could definitely get used to this though... What about you?"

Jimmy found himself drawn to the cute girl he was talking to, regardless of whether he wanted to be or not. He found himself giving up on trying not to succumb to her charm, and she was laying it on thick. He chuckled softly to himself, that must be the power that girls had over hormonal teenaged boys such as him.

Oh, so he was a runner, huh? This deal was getting sweeter and sweeter by the minute! Honestly, the blind girl didn't care an awful lot about how the boy's face looked like, but his body was a different matter entirely. There were no fat runners, though, so currently Ellie was imagining the boy as an around-fifteen-years-old Ryan Reynolds. Not that she knew for sure what Ryan Reynolds looked like, but she had an idea based on Caroline's description of him. Even girls who dated other girls were hot for Van Wilder!

"I come here from time to time", she admitted, kicking her foot idly and splashing a bit of water as she continued to dry her hair absent-mindedly. "Before I came here I lived pretty close to a pool, so swimming is a bit like second nature to me. Bet I could even beat you in a race, Mr. Usain Bolt!" she chuckled, leaving out the fact that she used to move pretty frequently when she was little. That wasn't exactly something you told the person you were hitting on unless you really needed some sympathy ASAP. 'Hey, how are you, let's hang out, oh by the way up until last year I lived in several orphanages because nobody wanted to adopt a blind girl, and I have no idea who my real parents are or why they left me alone when I was a baby'. Excellent pick up line! She sighed a bit to herself, trying to chase these thoughts away and wondering if the boy would bite the bait she'd laid out for him.

"Eleanor Wilson", she grinned. She had him on her hook! The young girl had pretty much won already, the rest were technicalities. "But everyone calls me Ellie. I do baaaad things to people who call me Eleanor, and not bad in a fun way", she chuckled, leaving the towel aside and diving feet-first into the pool. Swimming to the other end to warm up, she grabbed hold of the wall of the pool and turned to the direction of the boy. "Okay, here's the deal - if you win, I'll do whatever you want! One wish, no limits as long as it's not anything lewd!" she stated, raising a finger up towards the sky. "But if I win... Hmmmm", the girl rolled her eyes in thought. As if she hadn't already decided before the boy even walked into the room! "You're gonna have to take me out on a date! A proper date, not just a hang out for ice cream or something! Deal? Or are you afraid you might lose?" she stuck her tongue out.

"What made you think I'd ever suggest anything lewd? I'll have you know I'm a virtuous figure, filled with naught but innocence." He said, his voice filled with fake offence.

"You've got yourself a deal. Ready when you are, count us down and we'll go." Jimmy said, getting ready to push off of the wall on Ellie's mark. He had a wide grin, that went from ear to ear, one that he was glad Ellie couldn't see.

"Oh, riiiiight. Because I'm absolutely sure your eyes remained glued to mine the entire time", she chuckled. The young girl honestly didn't mind being ogled all that much - that's why she wore a two-piece swimsuit, after all! She loved to use the opportunity to tease her boyfriend, though. Was it too early to refer to him as her boyfriend? Nah, if anything, it was too late! Some girls in her last home would've called him their boyfriend the moment they laid eyes on him.

"Alright, ready... Set... Go!" she yelled, taking a deep breath before throwing herself into the water, her feet pushing her off the wall like a torpedo being shot off. Her experience got her a head start, and until about the halfway point she had a small lead on Jimmy... But then her fatigue and lack of stamina began saying their words. The young girl wasn't an experienced athlete, she just liked swimming a lot, but probably wouldn't be able to run a marathon. After the halfway points, when her efforts were focused on taking it a bit easy and making sure she remained in her lane, the boy easily went back ahead of her, the sound of water being splashed by his feet taunting her as she felt herself falling behind. Even a final burst of energy wasn't enough to grant her the victory - by the time she touched the opposite wall, Jimmy was already holding on. There was just a few seconds of difference, but it was noticeable.

Still, Ellie decided to play the fool. She could tell perfectly well that she'd lost just based on the sounds and her uncanny spatial awareness, but this presented an opportunity for a nice little test - would the man she had her eyes on swallow his pride if that meant getting a date with her? "So... Did I win?" she asked, sitting up on the wall of the pool and feeling around for her towel.

"Are you meaning to imply that I would appreciate the form of a pretty girl in a swimsuit? Absolutely preposterous!" Jimmy exclaimed, feigning protest.

Jimmy was a little slow to start with, botching his push-off, but his athleticism and power gave him a burst of speed, slowly but surely closing the gap between he and Ellie until they were tied, and then he surged ahead. Before he knew it, he'd reached the end, with Ellie trailing by just a few seconds. An impressive display for someone so slight and unassuming. The outcome hadn't exactly surprised Jimmy, just how close it was did.

Then, Ellie asked for the outcome. Was it a test? Did she know what happened? He presumed she did, he hadn't exactly been sly, splashing his feet around like his life depended on it, but he had a chance to rewrite the outcome of that race."Sure did. I think all my huge muscles weighed me down. I mean, these guns are pretty heavy." Jimmy joked.

A huge grin spread across Ellie's lips as Jimmy declared her the winner. So, we had athletic, funny, able to catch hints and perfectly willing to lie for her sake! If only he was a comic book nerd he'd be meeting all of her standards! "Ah, yeah, I've heard of that problem. Very serious! I heard that the only cure is the motivation gained by the company of beautiful young lady", she smiled at him. "So... Seven o'clock on Saturday, in front of the dorms?"

It felt good, to finally get a date. Jimmy had been searching for some sort of meaning, perhaps a girlfriend like Ellie would help him find a deeper purpose that he'd been hungering for since his aneurysm. His days had been nothing much beyond hollow cycles of studying and working out for quite some time now, provided Ellie was more than just a pretty face, she could prove to be exactly what he needed in his life. "Oh yeah, I heard the same thing. Good thing I'm here with one now, eh?"

"Sounds good to me. But first, I should preface myself by warning you that I won't remember you by your face. I have to apply context to things, so I'll recognise you if you introduce yourself as Ellie, but I've lost the ability to recognise faces unless I'm around them frequently and regularly for long periods of time. I'm also literally incapable of drawing things, because as soon as I look away from something, I forget what it looks like. Essentially, I have no visual short-term memory thanks to an aneurysm. Memorising visual objects for me is a process of months, not minutes. I just wanted to explain that, so I don't offend you if we meet again between now and our planned date and I act like I have no idea who you are. Just know that I don't mean for it to be the case at all, I can't even remember my parents' faces."

Ellie's mouth gaped a little as Jimmy began explaining to her about his disability. No short-term visual memory? That sucked! Well, okay, maybe not as much as complete blindness, but it still sucked. Ellie could easily recognize people based on what she referred to as their 'feel' - how they sounded, how they smelled, what their footsteps were like, that kind of thing. She'd created a system to recognize anyone even if she couldn't see them. Perhaps she could teach Jimmy sometime? Regardless, now was not the time to really think about this.

"Okay, good to know! I think I definitely would've gotten offended if you had just gone past me, especially since I plan on putting quite a bit of effort into my appearance", she chuckled. "I'm always with my cane, though! It's red, so that makes it pretty distinct from the others. You can distinguish colors, right? When you see a blind girl with a red cane, that's probably me! Unless red canes suddenly become fashionable among the blind folk in school, in which case we may have a problem", the girl laughed.

"Figured you might be the type. I don't know many who wouldn't be, considering it appears like I'm straight-up blanking someone, or acting like they're so insignificant to me that I can't be bothered to remember them." He explained.

"Red cane? Well, it's something. I'm sure knowing my luck that it'll suddenly be in season or something now, but I'd rather face the embarrassment of dealing with a mistake if that were to happen than just not use that information at all. Thank you." He replied with a chuckle.

"Hey, if push comes to shove, just talk to the cutest girl around! That'd probably be me", Ellie chuckled. She didn't really have an outfit that was good enough for a date, so she was probably going to have to go out shopping in order to look her best. Now that shed promised she'd be the cutest in the region, she was going to have to try even harder to impress the boy. N-not that she wanted to impress him or anything, of course! "Or just pretend to talk on the phone. I'm gonna recognize your voice and come tap you on the leg with my cane. Always works! Well, always, I mean with friends, I haven't actually been on a date be-- erm, recently, but that's because I haven't found anyone worthy of my attention, definitely not because most of my flirting tends to go completely unnoticed... Y'know what I'm just gonna go now", she laughed, winking once to make him think she was kidding even though she wasn't. "Seven PM, Jimmy! Don't be late, or I'm telling dad!"

Jimmy cocked an eyebrow at Ellie's later admission."Nobody's picked up on it? Well, you were exactly as subtle as an explosion today, honestly. But that's fine, the others are missing out. It's been a while for me too."

Well, duh! Subtlety clearly didn't work! She'd tried it a few times, and it had never managed to get her even one date. Like that Mizo guy that Caroline had introduced her to, who completely failed to hide the fact that he was way more interested in her best friend than in her. Still, Ellie hadn't given up on the search, and voila, she finally had a date! Like, a proper, real date, with a boy who didn't treat her like she was just a little kid despite her slow growth! Just the thought made her feel all giddy. The girl didn't respond to Jimmy's promise, though she did turn around and flash a grin in his direction before stepping into the girls' dressing room to get a shower and change her clothes. Saturday couldn't come faster!